Dr. Joleen Fernald Ph.D., CCC-SLP was awarded Board Specialty Recognition in Child Language from the American Speech Language Hearing Association. Dr. Jo follows Greenspan and Wieder’s model, DIRFloortime®, when working with children and families. She has a special interest in the social-emotional development of young children and its impact on their speech and language skills. As a speech-language pathologist, Dr. Jo works with children who have a variety of communication disorders. She partnered with Easter Seals New Hampshire in 2006 to open the first
comprehensive assessment and treatment clinic specifically for children with
selective mutism and has recreated the model in the Tampa Bay area of Florida.
Her model, DIR-Selective Mutism, is the only non-behavioral SM treatment
approach that supports emotional development, individual differences, and the
relationships children encounter daily. Dr. Jo enjoys public speaking and has
presented worldwide on the topics of childhood apraxia of speech and selective
mutism.